Calling BRICS nations ‘seemingly hostile countries’, US President Donald Trump has given the group an ultimatum. He said if these countries – initially including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, but also Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates now – back any other currency then they will face 100 per cent tariffs from the United States.
Posting on his social media media platform, Truth Social, on Friday, Trump asked the BRICS nation to “go find another sucker nation”.
“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER. We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy. They can go find another sucker Nation. There is no chance that BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, or anywhere else, and any Country that tries should say hello to Tariffs, and goodbye to America! (sic),” said Trump.
Trump’s latest comment on Friday is a reiteration of his stance that he has voiced numerous times in the past. On his first day in office, Trump spoke on how the BRICS nations were looking to trade better with each other using local currencies. He warned the BRICS nations against de-dollarising the world economy.
“As a Brics nation, they'll face a 100 per cent tariff if they so much as even think about doing what they thought, and therefore they will give it up immediately,” he said, adding that they are free to do so but US will put 100 per cent tariffs on the business they do with the country. Trump said it is “not even a threat”.
Separately, Trump has also brought up high tariffs of countries including India, China, and Mexico who he termed “tremendous tariff-makers”. Singling out these countries, Trump said that they might want to make their countries better, but they mean harm to the US. “China is a tremendous tariff-maker, and India, Brazil, and so many others. But we’re not going to let that happen anymore… because we’re going to put America first,” he had said.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called Trump an “American nationalist”. Speaking at Delhi University's Hansraj College, Jaishankar said, "Yes, he will change a lot of things, maybe some things will be out of syllabus, but we have to conduct foreign policies out of syllabus in the interest of the country…There may be some issues where we differ, but there will be many areas where things will be in our shed."